Shipachyov leaves Vegas for KHL, warns other Russians about going abroad

[Llama19]

To quote:

"Vegas said Thursday that Shipachyov's contract was ended after he refused to play for its AHL affiliate. He is officially considered "voluntarily retired" from the NHL.

Shipachyov appeared unhappy with his former team in a statement issued by SKA on Saturday.

"They say one thing to your face and when it comes to hockey, something else," he said, adding that his NHL experience had been "two months of misunderstandings, smiles and conversations which had nothing to do with reality.

"Russian players should think ten times before leaving for abroad, it's different from what the clubs and agents tell you.""

Source: www.cbc.ca/sports/hockey/nhl/shipachyov-leaves-vegas-khl-warns-russians-1.4399099

Click to read more...

 

[madhi19]

Sound to me like his agent did not bother telling the guy to "Shut up, ride the AHL bus, and cash the big fat cheques." Seriously the contract was guarantee, don't give the guys who decided they don't want your contract practically the minute after signing it a excuse to not pay your butt.

 

[Albatros]

A millionaire with family might have other priorities than desperately making even more money, I doubt his agent had much role in that decision.

 

[madhi19]

A millionaire with family might have other priorities than desperately making even more money, I doubt his agent had much role in that decision.

I would have done it out of principle. You wasted my time you're going to pay up. Plus I bet Vegas would have quickly folded, and agreed to a mutual termination that would have left the guy free to sign everywhere in the NHL.

 

[LadyStanley]

http://hfboards.mandatory.com/threads/shipachyov-suspended-update-v3-he-gone.2403949/

Lots more detail and links in VGK thread.

In a nutshell... GMGM arranged a trade at Ship's request, but he would not report. Negotiated agreement to "voluntarily retire", and repay ~90% of signing bonus. Also VGK own his rights for five years.

From the outside, it looks like a few misunderstandings/communication failures. Ship's comments seem like sour grapes.

Bottom line, the guy was not playing well, wouldn't go to AHL to work/improve. He didn't fit in the organization.

 

[tony d]

Thought Ship would have been a boon for the team. He was anything but. Seems to have sour grapes now as well about how it all went down.

 

[tarheelhockey]

Sound to me like his agent did not bother telling the guy to "Shut up, ride the AHL bus, and cash the big fat cheques." Seriously the contract was guarantee, don't give the guys who decided they don't want your contract practically the minute after signing it a excuse to not pay your butt.

It's a very strange situation. His agent is Petr Svoboda, who's very experienced both as a player and as an agent. Either Svoboda did an extremely poor job of informing his client about the possible outcomes of signing that contract, or Ship is the sort of fellow who brushes off the possibility of failure until it hits him like a ton of bricks, then blames other people.

 

[Albatros]

GMGM arranged a trade at Ship's request, but he would not report.

Would not report where? A player is expected to report at his new team only after a trade has been completed. According to Anaheim sources they were interested, but Vegas would not agree to Shipachyov keeping his signing bonus if traded.

REPORT: Ducks Tried To Trade For Vadim Shipachyov

 

[LadyStanley]

Story only indicated he would not report to offered trade location. I'm sure deal would have included something to compensate for signing bonus

 

[Butch 19]

"Russian players should think ten times before leaving for abroad, it's different from what the clubs and agents tell you.""

yeah, just look at all the problems the other Russian players are having, right now!!! - crickets -

enjoy your $500k rubles, and don't the the door hit ya...

 

[mouser]

Would not report where? A player is expected to report at his new team only after a trade has been completed. According to Anaheim sources they were interested, but Vegas would not agree to Shipachyov keeping his signing bonus if traded.

REPORT: Ducks Tried To Trade For Vadim Shipachyov

At the end of the day Vegas would have lost out on trying to reclaim Ship's signing bonus if he was traded. There's no precedent for doing so, and the PA was right to oppose that happening.

Where Shipachyov hurt his options is by not reporting to the AHL. Once he did that then he handed Vegas all sorts of leverage they wouldn't have had if he reported.

A) Ship goes to AHL. Vegas is on the hook for Ship's signing bonus plus full $3m salary, and are now in a situation where they're motivated to trade him or get him onto the NHL squad. Make the best of the situation and move on.

B) Ship refuses to report to AHL. Now Vegas can suspend him without pay, and eventually demand the signing bonus back if the refusal to fulfill the contract continues. Vegas' urgency to trade or play Ship has now been dramatically reduced. Vegas can now compare trade offers vs. the value of recouping most of the $2m signing bonus while still ridding themselves of the contract.

 

[Albatros]

In any case your scenario B is more or less what happened, it did not make financial sense for Vegas to trade him away to Anaheim for cheap instead of forcing him to retire. But minding that the crocodile tears of GMGM and the Vegas organization in general should be taken with a lot of salt.

 

[LadyStanley]

And it was quoted (in at least one article) that Ship refused to report (to another NHL organization) if traded.

 

[CHRDANHUTCH]

why does this sound eerily similar to Jonathan Drouin and Tampa.... posters act like this is the first time this has occurred.

 

[Gil Gunderson]

Well no NHL team has been accused of throwing someone in jail for a contract dispute just yet...

 

[IranCondraAffair]

Thanks vegas.

 

[KevinRedkey]

Didn't he sign in Vegas because they offered him 1st line minutes?
Seems pretty crappy for them to demote him to the AHL after using that card. His view on how the NHL is run is probably very negative, so I can't really blame the guy for going back home.

 

[BattleBorn]

I'm sure the main reason he signed was because VGK offered more money and another year of term than the other offers

He's going back home because he didn't fulfill the obligations of his contract.

There's places to talk about player egos and feelings, here's where the actual business matters.

 

[Howboutthempanthers]

yeah, just look at all the problems the other Russian players are having, right now!!! - crickets -

enjoy your $500k rubles, and don't the the door hit ya...

I mean, this is what I'm thinking as well.

 

[tarheelhockey]

Didn't he sign in Vegas because they offered him 1st line minutes?
Seems pretty crappy for them to demote him to the AHL after using that card.

I think the belief was that he would be an actual 1st line quality player. He didn’t exactly fulfill his end of the bargain there.

 

[Jumptheshark]

Again.

People need to factor in he brought his wife and kids over. Imagine you get a job in berlin move your family there only to be told that you would be in Gibraltar. Many are not understanding the implication of his family being settled in Vegas with him in Chicago

 

[Roadrage]

I think the belief was that he would be an actual 1st line quality player. He didn’t exactly fulfill his end of the bargain there.

He seemed to have played well in the preseason. Regular season starts and VGK have too many 3rd pairing D GMGM doesn't want to jettison as they are on 1 way deals so he sends down their supposed 1st line C and best young D because they don't have to clear waivers. Brings him back up to play a whole 3 games playing about 10 minutes per with 3rd liners the rest of the league didn't want. Sends him down again. I understand what he's doing is in the teams best interest but I think he really overvalued those defenseman (Jason Garrison and Griffin Reinhart) he tried trading to make room. One got waived and the other sent to minors and no team bothered to claim.

 

[htpwn]

I think the belief was that he would be an actual 1st line quality player. He didn’t exactly fulfill his end of the bargain there.

He played three regular season games. Is that enough to make any kind of determination? Even a 10-15 game spell can be a player running hot/cold, or for a guy like Shipachyov coming to N.A. for the first time, simply adjusting to a different size rink and style of game. I really doubt most teams would have hastily buried him in the minors the way Vegas did. You just don't sign a guy to a $4+ million deal, play him 30-some minutes of regular season hockey, and then say Bye! and get rid of him. He's right to be angry, IMO. Mind you, I don't think it is fair to taint the whole NHL with McPhee's follies, however a Vegas prospect like Gusev definitely might want to think twice about coming over.

 

[dechire]

Again.

People need to factor in he brought his wife and kids over. Imagine you get a job in berlin move your family there only to be told that you would be in Gibraltar. Many are not understanding the implication of his family being settled in Vegas with him in Chicago

Why does that need to be taken into account ? Do you not realize how many players in this league have families ? There isn't a single NHL GM saying "Nah we can't waive this guy. He has kids." It sucks for Shipachyov but he isn't special. Countless other players have been separated from their wives and kids because of trades or waivers or call-ups and they didn't refuse to report because of it. Any GM making roster decisions based on player happiness is a shitty GM. And if 2 weeks away from his family in the AHL was unacceptable then he wasn't built for the NHL, where he'd play 41 games a year away from home.

 

[vorky]

Why does that need to be taken into account ? Do you not realize how many players in this league have families ? There isn't a single NHL GM saying "Nah we can't waive this guy. He has kids." It sucks for Shipachyov but he isn't special. Countless other players have been separated from their wives and kids because of trades or waivers or call-ups and they didn't refuse to report because of it. Any GM making roster decisions based on player happiness is a ****ty GM. And if 2 weeks away from his family in the AHL was unacceptable then he wasn't built for the NHL, where he'd play 41 games a year away from home.

That was not a problem & he said it.

The problem was how GM behaved - told him something face to face, but did something opposite. All the time, lies from GM.